on accompaniment, attentiveness, and contribution
Happy (belated!) Feast of St. Ignatius!
Recently, to celebrate the feast day, I had the pleasure of joining a Loyola Press webinar on the “Audacity of Ignatian Spirituality.” Here it is! (Thanks to Joe and Denise for the helpful bookmarks throughout the recording.)
(And – hey – the name of that webinar reminds me of a cool little book!)
Last week, I wrote that I would write about Fr. Tom McDermott, CSC and appreciate the unique and remarkable person that he was. I have struggled in the attempt – it feels small and incomplete – but I offer the reflection here since the church so desperately needs leaders with Tom’s strengths. Here are five:
1) Tom’s pastoral default was to go to the margins and learn from the poor. He did this everywhere he went, including when he moved to Dhaka in his late fifties to begin his final apostolate. Last year, at the age of 73, on a fundraising trip in New York City, he wrote me that he organized a little “urban plunge” for himself to understand how folks who moved from Bangladesh settled in the New York. He always knew he would find God at the margins.
2) Tom told me on a few occasions that, if he were to write a book, it would be called Spirituality for Extroverts. When I made a silent retreat with him in Dhaka, he made sure that I did not get too much quiet – inviting me to visit the Missionaries of Charity house, to visit with this or that community member or interesting guest. He taught me that if one’s spirituality does not have some aspect of this extroversion, there is something missing.
3) Tom had the virtue of “solertia” in spades – a subset of the cardinal virtue of prudence. It refers to keen perception and quick practical judgment that allow one to navigate unexpected and/or changing circumstances. Tom’s ability to size up a situation and quickly act was truly excellent and he often put it in the service of students trying to learn and serve in East Africa or South Asia.
Humorous example of when he used it in the service of his brothers in Holy Cross: Some years ago, himself in his seventies, Tom volunteered to fly from Dhaka to Chicago with two Holy Cross brothers (themselves an average of 15 years older than Tom) to go home for medical care. Tom navigated Dhaka’s airport with the two aging priests. Mobility was a true challenge, and stairs were not possible for these men. Then, nearly on the plane, the three found themselves on the tarmac staring up at one of those giant and only kinda stable portable staircases leading up to their plane. No elevator. This was not going to happen for the brothers in his care, so Tom talked his way onto the container that carried the in-flight meals to the plane’s galley. He brought his brothers home via stacks of chicken dinners.
4) Tom often wished aloud that, if reincarnation were a thing, he would be blessed to come back as a cultural anthropologist. He delighted in people and could learn from anyone.
5) Tom understood the mystery of the Cross. Last year, I recorded this interview with Tom about the Holy Cross motto – The Cross, Our Only Hope. Do treat yourself to it. It feels right to give him the final word.
Team of Rivals tells the story of how Abraham Lincoln invited political opponents to serve as trusted members of his cabinet. He did not steamroll or manipulate them. He listened to them and learned from them and the wisdom he gained from this interaction helped him navigate the American Civil War.
Each of us can decide to engage others who do not think how we think or believe what we believe, and so create our own team of rivals. Doing so is a massively valuable and generous choice.
Institutions are strong and wise to the extent which they can call on the wisdom of teams of rivals.
The Ministry for the Future is a “climate fiction” novel that compellingly “plays forward” climate change. (The book was published in 2020, and the plot begins in 2025.)
The action centers around the “Ministry for the Future,” a global organization that advocates for future generations.
It is an ultimately hopeful book, that is also heart-breaking and life-changing.
Every human being should be offered a copy and encouraged to read it.
We have all been to events with a keynote speaker. A recognized expert in a subject is given time to inform or inspire.
It is a known meeting structure. The speaker has the microphone. We sit and listen.
Last week, I talked to a group that does things differently. They organize gatherings around a keynote listener. (Very cool!)
The keynote listener is a recognized expert in creating a gathering in which other people feel comfortable sharing their experience and wisdom. The keynote listener listens at this gathering, and then at the end of the meeting, synthesizes and summarizes so that the whole group can benefit from the wisdom of the group.
Are you a part of a group that could benefit from a keynote listener?
And it’s a bad choice.
Clear-eyed and truth-seeking, yes, but not cynical.
Cynicism accepts and reifies the worst parts of the status quo. It paralyzes us and wastes our energy by focusing on things we cannot control.
And it subtly lets us off the hook. (“Look at those people over there who are the problem. Nothing I can do about it.”) The cynic barricades themselves on the moral high ground and feels superior while contributing little.
The cynical mindset forgets that we are all capable of evil and all caught up in a system where it is often hard to do good.
The alternative is to be people with hope to bring – to see the world as it is, and, from there, to love and lead.
Opportunity and hope are everywhere, but cynical eyes cannot see them.
In the Suscipe prayer, one offers to God four things without reservation: one’s liberty, understanding, memory, and will.
People who do this consistently have always been remarkably valuable to the communities of which they are a part. They are teachers of what is ultimately valuable, lights on the path of where we are to go.
In our present world, the value of this asset is on the rise.
Consider the Suscipe’s nouns in an age of AI. Even the models available now are potentially massive aids to our understanding and memory, and they are only going to get better. Imagine having a brain prosthesis to help you recall and utilize everything you have ever written or read. With some set-up, this is more or less available now.
But also the risk of losing one’s way is significant. The digital world is going to get better and better and acting like it knows us. (It doesn’t.) This faked understanding will help the Dopamine Cartel* (social media, etc) fragment and sell our attention to the highest bidder, with obvious implications for liberty and will.
The opportunity is clear: Every day, we can offer our liberty, understanding, memory, and will to the Mystery of God. We can be rooted, or we can be uprooted.
*I borrowed this outstanding metaphor from this blog post. The dopamine talk starts about a third of the way down the page.
In the Odyssey, the first time we meet Odysseus, he has been offered by Calypso a life of ease and pleasure without urgency or end.
He rejects this offer, choosing instead a life of mortality and reality. He chooses the trial that will lead him home to his wife and son, to his real life.
This hero’s journey starts by choosing to be mortal.
Like Odysseus, when we recognize and embrace our own mortality, the adventure of our life deepens. This recognition of our limitedness helps us to live well and urgently.
Yes, mortality has been chosen for us, as it were. Our bodies are not built to last forever and none of us will ever be offered what Calypso offered Odysseus. But we do have the choice to either embrace our mortality or uselessly resent (or ignore) it. This is an illusory path that short-circuits the hero’s journey.
Instead, we have the choice to live generously within the constraints we have been given.
I am delighted to announce that Sorin Starts a School has been officially adopted by Ave Maria Press. It is now available on their website and on Amazon.
We are thrilled to partner with a ministry of the Congregation of Holy Cross on a book that foregrounds their charism.
And might I hazard a request of your time today? In the world of Amazon, a lot hinges on the number of reviews for a given book. Might you click through and write up a short review today?
(If you don’t have your copy handy, I’ll take a minute to read it to ya. :D)
Over the past months, I’ve been trying to learn how to interact productively with ChatGPT 4 on a programming project. I am only at the beginning of my understanding, and, while it is certainly not perfect, it is shocking useful at many tasks.
(Aside: Haven’t thought about using one of the new AI models or not sure where to start or not sure what to make of it all? Co-Intelligence is an outstanding read.)
And there is something AI can’t do, insofar as I can tell: It can’t tell me if I am focusing on the right problem.
It cannot tell me if I am focusing on the real issue or a sideshow that will waste time and energy.
This is a hugely important skill, and one that we do well to focus on cultivating more intently, even apart from the expanding capability of our tools.
So, before engaging any tools at our disposal, it is good to ask: What is the problem I am trying to solve? What is all of this effort for?
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